U.S. land managers have long known that they have a problem on their hands with overgrown forests and persistent drought. With the risk of catastrophic wildfire increasing, one tool is to use

Wildfires burning at or near the Grand Canyon's North Rim are still raging as strong winds, high heat and low humidity persist.

"We were just short on resources, didn't have enough people, enough aircraft to get there and, you know, effectively fight the fire," said Stanley in a phone interview, speaking of his first night working on the fire as part of an air attack crew.

The Grand Canyon Lodge in far northern Arizona that was an elusive getaway for nearly a century has been destroyed by a wildfire.

Two wildfires continue to burn near the Grand Canyon; the White Sage Fire has burned nearly 53,000 acres and is 4% contained. The Dragon Bravo Fire has burned about 8,500 acres.

In this secluded paradise, mail still arrives by mule, turquoise cascades tumble into travertine pools, and time flows at the pace of the river.

What fueled the explosive growth of the Dragon Bravo Fire was a mix of gusty winds, dry air and above-normal heat – weather conditions experts described as atypical for this time of year, when monsoonal moisture typically tamps down wildfire risk across Arizona.

The resulting Nankoweap landslide would have dumped enormous limestone boulders into the river corridor, creating a temporary dam and a lake whose surface may have reached 940 meters elevation before water overtopped and eroded the blockage, likely within 1,000 years.